January 29, 2020

Congressman Correa Urges State Of California To Send Emergency Resources To Fight Homelessness In Orange County

Washington, DC - Today Congressman Lou Correa (D-CA-46) sent a letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom urging the state to provide immediate emergency housing resources to the cities of Santa Ana and Anaheim.

Congressman Correa said, “Orange County—especially the cities of Anaheim and Santa Ana—needs the state to deploy emergency housing resources as well as Los Angeles County.”

In his letter, Congressman Correa requested emergency housing resources, including portable trailers, to assist in getting homeless individuals off the streets. Additionally, the Congressman also urged Governor Newsom to provide state-owned land to build a navigation center to assist communities and homeless individuals with accessing resources.

The letter can be found here. The text can be found below.

January 28, 2020

The Honorable Gavin Newsom 
Governor 
State of California 
California State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, California 95814

Dear Governor Newsom:

Thank you for your Administration’s focus on homelessness.  Our state is in a crisis.  We applaud your initiative to provide emergency shelter to help people in immediate need. In Washington, we are working on legislation for federal grants for cities that build homeless shelters to have funding for increased police, fire, and sanitation services. 

Orange County—especially the cities of Anaheim and Santa Ana—needs the state to deploy emergency housing resources as well as Los Angeles County. The level of homelessness is severe in the County. When compared nationally, Orange County has the largest homeless population of a mid-sized county in the United States.
The city of Santa Ana has 1,700 homeless people in 2019, up from 1,000 the previous year. Anaheim has 1,200 people sleeping on the streets. This put a strain on city budgets. For example, Santa Ana spent $25 million this past year in services up from almost $17 million.

Also, in terms of decency, people are living on train tracks and other areas in poor condition.  We need to focus on long-term solutions such as building more permanent supportive housing and helping people who have a mental illness, substance abuse, and severe financial problems.  But in the short-term, we need to assist our cities in providing give them a safe, weather-protected place to sleep at night. 

As you focus the fight to end homelessness, I urge you to consider providing similar resources to the cities of Anaheim and Santa Ana, as well as state-owned land to construct a navigation center. We are in need of additional support in our fight to restore our city and help our fellow citizens trapped on our streets. The construction of a navigation center is crucial to connecting those in need with the resources available to them while protecting taxpayer dollars.

While these emergency measures will not solve our longer-term problems, they will provide us with the time necessary to implement permanent supportive housing options throughout the county, while showing our taxpaying citizens we are serious about solving this problem. 

Sincerely,

J. Luis Correa
Member of Congress

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Rep. Lou Correa represents California’s 46th Congressional District. He serves as Chair of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security, and as the Vice Chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet. Read more here.